The Hayabusa Spacecraft Asteroid Multi-Band Imaging Camera: AMICA

The Hayabusa Spacecraft Asteroid Multiband Imaging Camera (AMICA) has acquired more than 1400 multispectral and high-resolution images of its target asteroid, 25143 Itokawa, since late August 2005. In this paper, we summarize the design and performance of AMICA. In addition, we describe the calibration methods, assumptions, and models, based on measurements. Major calibration steps include corrections for linearity and modeling and subtraction of bias, dark current, read-out smear, and pixel-to-pixel responsivity variations. AMICA v-band data were calibrated to radiance using in-flight stellar observations. The other band data were calibrated to reflectance by comparing them to ground-based observations to avoid the uncertainty of the solar irradiation in those bands. We found that the AMICA signal was linear with respect to the input signal to an accuracy of << 1% when the signal level was < 3800 DN. We verified that the absolute radiance calibration of the AMICA v-band (0.55 micron) was accurate to 4% or less, the accuracy of the disk-integrated spectra with respect to the AMICA v-band was about 1%, and the pixel-to-pixel responsivity (flatfield) variation was 3% or less. The uncertainty in background zero-level was 5 DN. From wide-band observations of star clusters, we found that the AMICA optics have an effective focal length of 120.80 \pm 0.03 mm, yielding a field-of-view (FOV) of 5.83 deg x 5.69 deg. The resulting geometric distortion model was accurate to within a third of a pixel. We demonstrated an image-restoration technique using the point-spread functions of stars, and confirmed that the technique functions well in all loss-less images. An artifact not corrected by this calibration is scattered light associated with bright disks in the FOV.Comment: 107 pages, 22 figures, 9 tables. will appear in Icaru

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of pneumonia in patients with and without rheumatoid arthritis.

BACKGROUND:To elucidate the characteristics of pneumonia in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to assess whether pneumonia in RA patients differs from that in non-RA patients. METHODS:We retrospectively divided pneumonia patients into two groups, those with RA and those without RA, and compared the two groups. We evaluated the risk factors for mortality with univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS:Among 1549 patients, 71 had RA. The RA patients with pneumonia were 71.0±8.9 years old, 54.9% were female, 40.9% had a smoking history, and 71.8% had underlying respiratory disease. Female sex, non-smoker, and respiratory comorbidities were statistically more frequent in the RA patients than non-RA patients. The most frequent causative microbial agents of pneumonia in the RA patients were Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Haemophilus influenzae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and influenza virus, whereas those of pneumonia in non-RA patients were S. pneumoniae, influenza virus, M. pneumoniae, Legionella spp., P. aeruginosa, H. influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. Polymicrobial infection were identified as etiologies more frequently in the RA patients than non-RA patients. Although the severity of pneumonia did not differ between the two groups, mortality was statistically higher in the RA patients than non-RA patients. Multivariate analysis showed RA to be an independent risk factor for mortality. CONCLUSIONS:P. aeruginosa, H. influenzae, M. catarrhalis, and polymicrobial infection were statistically more frequent etiologies of pneumonia in the RA patients than non-RA patients. RA itself was found to be an independent risk factor for mortality from pneumonia

Factors associated with employment in patients undergoing hemodialysis: a mixed methods study

Abstract Background For patients undergoing hemodialysis, continuing in labor is very challenging and many patients have difficulty in current and/or previous workplaces. The objective of the present study is to clarify the determinants of being employed in hemodialysis patients by use of the mixed methods approach. Methods One hundred and forty-nine patients undergoing hemodialysis were interviewed between 2010 and 2011 using the “100-category checklists” based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health developed for hemodialysis patients. The categories with which the participants experienced difficulty at workplace were analyzed using the mixed methods approach. In quantitative data, the patients undergoing hemodialysis were divided into two groups if they experienced any difficulty in current and/or previous workplaces (i.e., “experienced” group vs. “not experienced” group). In qualitative data, responses to the open-ended questions were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Results In total of 149 patients (male, 66%; mean age 62 years; mean hemodialysis vintage, 8.6 years), 62% had diabetes and 86% were in labor at the time of investigation. In a quantitative analysis, compared to the unexperienced group, the experienced group was more likely to show the physical problems such as fatigability and decline of physical strength and declined energy level. In a qualitative analysis, three determinants of being unemployed were emerged including hospital visits (i.e., three times a week), vascular access, and physical symptoms. In contrast, a favorable determinant for the work continuation and job opportunities was found to be a flexible dialysis shift. Conclusions Our mixed methods study suggests that patients undergoing hemodialysis frequently suffer from physical problems such as frequent hospital visits for hemodialysis, vascular access troubles, and physical distress, resulting in frequent unemployment. One solution for unemployment of the patients undergoing hemodialysis is a dialysis shift flexible for individual lifestyles